Tag Archives: airbnb mental health

Airbnb Guest from Hell Blackmails Host to Not Pay Damages

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I was a host for five years and didn’t have a singe issue with tenants, but still, a guest from hell arrived to rent a room in my beautiful apartment. He violated all the rules of my home immediately. He smoked cigarettes and then weed day and night. He slammed the doors 24/7. He was extremely dirty and the apartment had a horrible smell.

Then he claimed he had a medical prescription to smoke weed. He informed me that he arrived in my city to see a psychiatrist, as he was ‘crazy’. He showed me other medicine he was taking. The man was very tall and huge, triple my size, and he was screaming and shouting. He was throwing his things against the wall.

I thought I was in a horror movie. I was absolutely terrified and scared for my life as a single female being in the house with him. I contacted Airbnb and they told me that they were cancelling this reservation. However, they couldn’t “reach” the tenant and it was I who had to inform him, evict him, and to involve police. They washed their hands of it, leaving me by myself with an aggressive man who was threatening me and refusing to leave.

That was not the end of it. Airbnb sent me two emails informing me about their Million Dollar Guarantee, probably expecting me to claim a lot (fortunately, nothing was damaged). At the same time, in a third email Airbnb immediately accused me – instead of apologizing for their total lack of help to evict this tenant from hell – by issuing me a warning that my email to the customer service was discriminating.

Just to clarity, in my email I simply asked them how they ensured the safety of hosts because people who have mental issues of such proportions get on the platform. What policy is there in place to protect the hosts? Apparently hosts cannot ask valid questions like that, or they are shut down immediately as it is deemed “discrimination” by Airbnb. They even sent me a link to anti-discrimination policy.

What a scam. They lie in all their communications. They abuse and effectively blackmail hosts – preemptively – to ensure no claims for damages are filed, and so they don’t pay. When I asked what action they did take against the tenant, they didn’t give me any details; as per their policy, it’s an “internal” matter. They do what they want and how they want, as long as these guests from hell pay them commissions.

Airbnb really scams hosts because they provide no guarantees for safety and security for our homes. Even if Airbnb covertly turns our homes effectively into asylums for mentally ill people, it’s okay because Airbnb can still make some money off it. They don’t care about hosts, just use and abuse us to make commissions. I really can’t wait till they file for IPO as then all their scams and abuses will explode right in their face, and the market will punish their abuse immediately. Airbnb won’t be able to avoid class action lawsuits at that point.

Mental Health: Airbnb Doesn’t Put your Safety First

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This is a long post with a very disturbing video and story.

My husband and I arrived to an Airbnb host’s free backyard cottage on Thursday, January 23rd Around 9:20 PM. All went as planned as far as going in the backyard and finding the key in the shed behind the main house just as the owner’s form message instructed. The accommodations were exactly as described, very clean and very cute.

At 8:00 AM the next morning, a woman came to our door and began to rattle it very hard in an attempt to get in. We told her several times that we were in there and she responded with, “ha ha ha ha ha ha” and then screamed, “YOU SCARED ME!” We again said we were in there and she began to yell at us: “Don’t stress, don’t stress.”

She then returned to the main house. A few minutes later I heard a very disturbing and very loud scream from the house. Shortly after the young woman came outside wearing a dress and a towel wrapped around her shoulders/head. She had a hammer and a wicker cylinder shaped basket of some sort.

She then began to hammer the basket very loudly and aggressively on the concrete patio located less than ten feet from where we staying. At one point she took a break and she turned around as if she were looking at the neighbor’s house and gave them the finger. It was at this point I told my husband that we were not staying here another night and that we were leaving ASAP.

We quickly packed our things and took them to the car parked in front of the main house. As we put our luggage in the trunk we saw the curtains move in the front window. Suddenly, the woman in the house threw her face against the glass and started shrieking violently and making pain-filled faces. She was yelling inaudible things through the glass.

She then opened the screen-less window and it was clear that we were not dealing with a mentally healthy person. She told me that I smelled bad because I smelled like lanolin. There were several other odd things said and many disturbing screams.

I then got my phone and made a video and asked if she was okay. She defensively and calmly said she was fine and I asked if she was the host. She replied with, “F$%k no, she doesn’t live here but I bet she didn’t tell you that she had a mentally ill daughter.”

She then let out another super disturbing scream, horror movie style. I turned off my camera and she continued to flip us off and scream viciously as we pulled out of the driveway.

We never provoked her. We never spoke with her other than when she was trying to force herself into our locked room and when I took the video. We were just grateful that she didn’t display this behavior in the night and we didn’t have have time to properly respond.

Our biggest concern was our safety and hers. We contacted her mother via private message. The host responded quickly and wrote, “She has been stable for a week but apparently is not any longer.” According to a standard issue form message to her guests, the host is a traveling musician and is always looking for gigs in other people’s homes.

The host gave us our money back and Airbnb, while initially unresponsive to my urgent email, did handle things very smoothly and efficiently once I called them. The company canceled our reservation and refunded our $280 in record time.

During our phone call I asked if this woman would still be allowed to host. Airbnb, who is privy to all of this information, including the DMs with the host, told us that they would go over the rules and regulations with the host. Her cottage has been pre-booked for months of January, February and March for many weeks.

As of 7:00 PM CST on January 27, 2020, this property is still booked with previous reservations and and is still accepting new ones; because Airbnb canceled our reservation and refunded our money, company policy has revoked our privilege to post a review. This also explains why 168 people have given this property a 95% positive review.

Watch the video to the end.

Posted by Dana Moxie Minetos on Monday, January 27, 2020

Airbnb Guest Booked Property to Commit Suicide

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Setting: a major city in France. On Monday a prospective guest – let’s call him Laurence – requested to book a room in my apartment where I also living for one week starting on Tuesday. He had a blank profile – no photo – but wrote a brief message saying he was a young man coming to the city for a job interview and wanted to look around. I accepted the booking.

On Tuesday, there was no communication from Laurence. I took the initiative and contacted the mobile number given asking for his arrival time. There was an exchange of messages. I repeated several times that I would not leave the key with my neighbour. Because the guest would be arriving while I was at work, he would have to arrive after I’ve finished work, around 9:30. My policy is always to be in when people arrive, I’m not giving a stranger keys to my home when I’m not there.

The young man arrived. His name wasn’t Laurence – let’s call him Gilbert. I showed Gilbert around the flat. He settled into the room, had a shower, and went to bed. On Wednesday I was out early, returned for lunchtime, and saw Gilbert briefly. I left the apartment mid-afternoon, and returned around 8:30. I wasn’t sure if Gilbert was in his room or not.

On Thursday I left early and was out all day, returning home around 7:15. There was no sign of Gilbert having been in or out the apartment. On Friday I left early, returned at lunchtime, and noticed the shutters to the guest room which faces the street are still closed. I knocked  on the door to the guest room several times. After getting no response I entered to find a very dead Gilbert curled up under the duvet. His suitcase was opened but not unpacked. There was a bag next to it with quantities of medications, and blister packs opened. I didn’t look too closely because I didn’t want to touch anything. There were several empty beer bottles.

The remainder of Friday afternoon was spent dealing with the police. Eventually the body was removed and I spent that evening deep cleaning the flat. I’ve had to throw out the mattress (looked like blood had been vomited) as well as the bed linen. On Friday night, his parents called me, saying they had not heard anything from Gilbert since Wednesday, asking if he was alright.

“The police will call you Madam.”

“What do you mean the police will call me? I don’t understand…”

“The police will call you Madam.” That’s all I can say. I put the phone down and switched it off.

On Saturday, his parents flew into the city. The mother called me in tears. I agreed to meet and let them in the flat to see the room where their son died. On Sunday, I was back at the police station repeating myself: “When did I last see Gilbert? Did I hear anyone else come in or out the apartment on Wednesday night? Did he allow anyone into the apartment? Did I observe anything about his mood?” Anyway, I’m not suspected of anything, but this is still nerve racking and extremely unpleasant.

Until the autopsy is carried out on Monday, the cause of death can’t be determined. I guess he either chose my place to commit suicide, had some undiagnosed medical condition, or died accidentally. I’m continuing to host on Airbnb and I’ve changed the settings, so everyone has to request to book. I’ve made the house rules even more explicit and will copy and send to prospective guests who must read through and confirm them before I’ll accept the booking.

I’ve reiterated I have zero tolerance for alcohol/drug intoxication as well as stating I must be told about any underlying medical conditions such as diabetes or epilepsy which might cause an emergency. Guests should also give me emergency contact details. I’ve said that I will meet guests in the street outside the apartment and if their photo ID doesn’t match the name of the person who made the booking they won’t be allowed in the building, let alone given the keys to the apartment. You have to protect yourself in this day and age.